Imagine being able to grow a range of herbs and vegetables in your home, 365 days a year with minimal effort. This is what the Click and Grow Smart Garden sets out to do. It aims to bridge the gap between nature and our urban lives, while making this process as simple and enjoyable as possible.
This Click And Grow review is going to tell you all you need to know to decide whether this is the right product for you, highlight the pros and cons, as well as draw comparisons with other products on the market.
I’ve used both the Click and Grow 3 and Click And Grow 9 for over a year and I’ve generally been been delighted with the performance and experience. It’s not for everyone, and you won’t feed your family all year with it, but it sure is a lot of fun.
Read on to find out what the Click And Grow Smart Garden has to offer.
Click And Grow Smart Garden Review
The Click And Grow Smart Garden is available in two variants: The Smart Garden 3 and the Smart Garden 9. Let’s start this Click And Grow review by looking at each one separately and find out which one works best for you.
Click And Grow Smart Garden 3
The Click And Grow Smart Garden 3 will let you grow 3 plants at once. They are grown from seed pods, which contain smart soil and the seeds of your choice. You just click them into place, add water to the reservoir, plug it in and watch as your plants begin to grow.
The Click And Grow Smart Garden 3 is compact, quiet and inexpensive. The height of the light is fully adjustable, allowing you to raise it as your plants grow. See below for the most important specifications.
Click And Grow Smart Garden 9
The Click And Grow Smart Garden 9 allows you to grow 9 plants at a time, 3 times as many plants as it’s smaller sibling, while remaining compact in size.
Being able to grow 9 plants at a time is a real advantage as you have more opportunity to grow a range of produce and the greater display of plants is very visually appealing. The larger unit is also more cost effective and power efficient.
Both the Click and Grow 9 and the Click and Grow 3 look great, but the color options are limited to only white, beige and grey. This isn’t as limiting as it sounds at first, as the design, build quality and aesthetics of both units is fantastic.
History Of Click And Grow Smart Garden
The Click And Grow Smart Garden was first inspired by NASA’s plans to find applicable methods to grow plants in space. Founder and CEO Matthias Lepp took that idea and started dabbling with a bunch of different cultivation technologies. Following much research and many prototypes, the Click And Grow was born.
Click And Grow isn’t the first product to help you easily grow plants indoors with minimal effort, but it refines many aspects of plant care and automates them in a cost effective and great looking product.
Lets take a look at some of the key features of the Click And Grow Smart Garden which makes it such as attractive option for growing plants indoors.
Click And Grow Unboxing And Setup
Click And Grow Smart Garden Advantages
Very Easy to Use: Simple and straightforward setup instructions. Requires no previous gardening experience. Requires very minimal maintenance and care.
Great Aesthetics: Both the Click And Grow 3 and 9 look very sleek and attractive. Not only are they great as indoor gardens, but they also look great on display in your home.
Power Efficient: Both models have no serious impact on your electricity bill. Even the larger unit is likely to cost less than $1 per month in electricity to run.
Price: The Click And Grow Smart Garden isn’t cheap, but after considering the build quality and the pricing of other competitors, I feel it offers good value.
Click And Grow Smart Garden Disadvantages
Low Yield: You shouldn’t have high expectations for what the Click And Grow can produce. It takes a while for your plants to grow big enough to be harvested, and the output isn’t going to keep your family well fed. The Click And Grow is fun, but it isn’t an indoor farm.
Limited Plant Height: With both Click And Grow 3 and 9, you are limited by the height of the grow light. The Click And Grow 3 comes with a light extension arm, but you will need to purchase additional extension arms if you want to extend the height of the light on the Click And Grow 9.
Cost of Seed Pods: While both models come with a several seed pods, to get you started, you will need more pods for further planting cycles. Refill seed pods don’t come cheap ($9.95 per pod). It is possible to reuse seed pods, and if you look online, you’ll find plenty of DIY options that are much more cost effective.
Click And Grow Timelapse
To get an idea of what to expect from your plants when you get a Click And Grow Smart Garden, check out the timelapse footage in the video below.
What Problems Does The Click And Grow Smart Garden Solve
Lets continue our Click And Grow review by looking at the problems that it solves when it comes to growing herbs, vegetables and salad indoors. Reducing or eliminating these problems and providing a cost effective and good looking product is where the Click And Grow really shines.
Light
Many people live in homes with poor access to light. Vegetables, flowering plants and salad greens have relatively high light requirements, and trying to grow these indoors without supplemental lighting often leads to disappointment.
The LED lighting of the Click And Grow Smart Garden, which comes integrated neatly into the unit provides reasonable power to allow any plant to grow and thrive in even a dull indoor space.
The power of the grow lights isn’t particularly impressive when compared with dedicated grow lights, but it strikes a good balance between light output and power use.
This is of course an important consideration, as most people wouldn’t be too keen to run up a large power bill to grow a few plants at home. Thankfully, even the larger Click And Grow 9 will cost less that $1 per month to power.
Time And Ease Of Use
Growing plants indoors isn’t always very easy. You need to consider the care requirements of the individual plants, and remember to check on them regularly, addressing any issues as they arise.
The Click And Grow Smart Garden addresses some of these issues, by automating light, water and nutrient delivery, while also ensuring that the growing medium used is optimal for plant and root health.
Both variants of the Click And Grow Smart Garden are extremely simple and easy to use. The instructions are very comprehensive, allowing for a pretty straight-forward installation process.
It takes less than 5 minutes per week to manage the needs of the plants. It isn’t completely hands off as your plants will need regular pruning once they get larger, and different plant growth rates can cause some issues.
Faster growing plants can sometime limit light delivery to smaller plants, so watch for this. Also, if you are planting new pods next to mature plants, the new seedlings can really struggle to get sufficient light.
Your Plants Are Cared For When You’re Away From Home
One issue that often concerns me with growing plants indoors, is how to keep them alive when I go on vacation. With the Click And Grow Smart Garden, you can safely leave them for 2-3 weeks without any issue, as the water reservoir holds sufficient water to last at least 3 weeks for most plants.
Health Benefits Of Plants
Click And Grow Smart Garden is most likely to appeal to people who live in homes without access to a garden or balcony. It allows you to bring some of the outdoors into your home, and this can have major benefits to your physical and mental health.
- Hospital patients have been shown to have better blood pressure, lower pain scores and reduced anxiety when nursed in rooms with indoor plants compared to those patients who aren’t.A 2010 study by UTS showed that having plants in offices reduces fatigue, anxiety, stress and anger by 30-60%A 2015 study showed that actively interacting with plants can reduce physiological and psychological stress.
Aesthetics
It’s great to decorate our homes with things that add character and make a space feel like home and uniquely ours. The Click And Grow Smart Garden is the first thing that people comment on when they walk into my kitchen. The blend of technology and nature, as well as the great styling makes the Click And Grow look great on display.
It adds a different dimension to the decor of any room due to the unique shapes and patterns of the living plants and as neither the Click and Grow 3 or the Click and Grow 9 is particularly large, they can be placed in a wide variety of locations in your home.
Does Click And Grow Work If I Use Different Soil And Seeds?
The Click And Grow system is designed to work with the Smart Soil that comes in the plant pods. However, you can certainly reuse the pods with a range of different growing mediums.
If you do a quick search online you will find plenty of suitable products and DIY solutions to reuse the pods and use your own seeds. Alternatively, you can purchase the experimental pods (seed-free) and insert your own seeds inside.
How Long Before The Plant Pods Need To Be Replaced?
It all boils down to the plant and the environment. You’ll find that the plant pods carry information that indicates the germination time and how long it takes to achieve the full size of the plant. The average life cycle of the Click And Grow plants is around 2-3 months.
Do I Need To Add Nutrient Capsules To The Click And Grow?
No, not at all. All the necessary nutrients that the plant requires is already existent in the Smart Soil for the entire lifespan of the plant.
What Is Smart Soil?
Smart soil is a patented, nano-tech growth medium that resembles actual soil. It’s main purpose is to balance water, oxygen, and nutrient levels to allow plants to grow to their full potential.
The nano-coated pellets in the soil are responsible for keeping the nutrients at an optimal level by releasing minerals based on the soil moisture and temperature.
Click And Grow Smart Garden 3
The Click And Grow Smart Garden 3 can grow 3 plants at a time, and does this in a very attractive, and compact package. It is most appropriate for people who want to have some fun growing a few plants at home, rather than those wanting to produce any significant quantity of food.
I’ve typically used my Click And Grow 3 to grow herbs for my kitchen. I have it sitting on some shelves beside my main food preparation area, where it looks great and really adds to the character of my kitchen.
It’s so handy to just pop over and cut some fresh basil when I’m preparing a meal. The other way I’ve used the Click And Grow 3 is to grow fragrant herbs such as lemon balm or peppermint, to make my kitchen smell amazing.
The Click And Grow Smart Garden 3 has a number of improvements that were lacking in its predecessor. The older version had only two LED lights distributed over three plants, resulting in uneven growth. This model, however, has an LED light feeding each plant equal amount of light.
The Click And Grow Smart Garden 3 comes with 3 plant capsules, but you can order other capsules online. I’d advise a little research before planting different types of plants next to one another as that can affect their growth for better or for worse. For example, if you grow mustard greens and lettuce together, you’ll notice that the lettuce will thrive at the expense of the greens.
If you’re new to the whole indoor smart garden idea, then the Click And Grow 3 is an ideal place to start.
Click And Grow Smart Garden 9
If you’ve taken a look at the Smart Garden 3 and you thought to yourself that it’s not going to be practical for your needs in terms of size, then you may want to give the Smart Garden 9 a look.
The Click And Grow Smart Garden 9 allows you to grow 9 plants at once, and is more space and power efficient than the Click And Grow 3. Just like the Smart Garden 3, you have a fully-adjustable light source and a refillable water tank.
The Smart Garden 9 package includes a set of 3 lettuce, 3 mini tomatoes, and 3 basil plant pods, with the ability to order other pods online.
The Click And Grow 9 has a sleek and attractive design that looks great on display. You’ll be surprised to hear so many compliments from people visiting your house and admiring how great this small garden looks.
For those who think that 9 plants may not be enough for them, Click And Grow provides other, larger alternatives such as the Wall Farm which can accommodate up to 51 plants pods and the Wall Farm Mini with its 34 plant pods. But keep in mind that these products need a lot of space, require more attention, and they also cost more.
Click And Grow Alternatives
No Click And Grow review would be complete without discussing other options. Click And Grow isn’t the only manufacturer of indoor smart gardens on the market today. In fact, there are now quite a number of smart garden products that let you grow plants indoors in a similar way.
I’ve covered 14 great smart garden options in this article.
Here are some of the top options you may wish to consider.
Aerogarden – I’ve covered Aerogarden in a separate review article, as well as an article which compares Click And Grow vs Aerogarden.
Veritable Smart Indoor Garden – Very similar to Click And Grow, but much more expensive. The main attraction of the Veritable Smart Indoor Garden is that it looks fantastic. (Available from the MoMa design store).
Klarstein GrowIt Flex – Similar looking to Click And Grow, but has more flexibility to grow any plants, rather than using seed pods. More cost effective than Click And Grow, but a little more know how is required.
Mindful Design LED Indoor Herb Garden – If you want to grow plants in a more traditional way, but utilise appropriate LED grow lighting in a package that looks great, then the Mindful Design LED Indoor Herb Garden is a good option. More attention will be required to keep your plants healthy, but this is a very cost effective alternative.
Aerogarden is the biggest competitor in the smart garden space, so it is worth looking at this in more detail. I’ve written an article comparing Aerogarden and Click and Grow, but I’ve covered some of the main points below.
Click And Grow vs AeroGarden
Although Click And Grow and Aerogarden are the two largest players in the smart garden space, there are significant differences between them. To get a better understanding of the two products, let’s have a comparison of them.
Aesthetics
Aerogarden updated the aesthetics of their entire range recently, and I have been very impressed. Previously, the unappealing look of the aerogarden was a major drawback for me, and a lot of other people.
Aerogarden designs are more colorful and there is more variety, but Click And Grow has more simple, understated styling. I think both look great but they will appeal to people differently.
Construction
Having used both Click And Grow models and several of the Aerogarden models, I have been generally been impressed with the construction and finish of both.
Both of these ranges are consumer models, where price is definitely a factor. Both companies have kept the cost very competitive by opting for largely plastic construction.
In terms of the size, AeroGardens tend to be wider, taller, and overall bigger, making them heavier than their Click And Grow counterparts. Having said that, there is now such a range of Aerogarden models that you are very likely to find one that fits your space requirements.
Growth Technology
The Click And Grow Smart Garden mainly relies on their LED grow lamps and their Smart Soil technology. AeroGarden products use an aerator pump and grow lamps. The main function of the aerator pump is to circulate the water, oxygen, and nutrients. To find out more about aerator technology, click here.
Some AeroGarden models also come with an LCD touchscreen control panel that allows you to monitor the growth and development of your plants. Some models also have smart features that allow you to control your aerogarden from a smartphone and receive reminders when it’s time to add water and nutrients.
The Click And Grow doesn’t feature an LCD control panel, just light signals that indicate when the water level is running low and needs a refill.
Lighting System
The grow lights in both products are energy-efficient LEDs, specifically tailored to emit light at wavelengths most useful for plant growth. Yield is generally better with the AeroGarden models, due to the more powerful grow lights, but this comes at the cost of higher electricity use.
Both light systems can be easily adjusted to accommodate reasonable heights. However, Click And Grow gardens tend to have a lower maximum height than that of AeroGarden.
Seed Kits
Both the Click And Grow and Aerogarden products use seed pods, which makes growing plants with either product very easy. The drawback is that replacement seed pods are quite expensive, and this negates some of the benfit of owning an indoor smart garden.
Aerogarden has a greater range of seed pods to choose from, but both products can be used with your own seeds, which I would certainly recommend.
Price
Both Aerogarden and Click And Grow are great products, and the entry level models of both are very affordable and quite good value in my opinion.
Aerogarden has a large range of models, and the price increases depending on how many plants you want to grow at a time and what functionality you would like.
This is excellent as it gives the customer plenty of choice, but sometimes understanding their product range can be a little confusing. Thankfully, I’ve explained everything simply in my Aerogarden review article.
Click And Grow really only has the Click And Grow 3 and Click And Grow 9, so your options are more limited.
The value of both Aerogarden and Click And Grow comes from the design, fun and utility of growing plants indoors all year round, rather than from being able to grow food indoors more cheaply than buying it from the supermarket.
Benefits Of Home-Grown Food Using The Click And Grow Smart Garden
Although you may not save money growing food with the Click And Grow, there are many other benefits of growing food in this way. It’s worth thinking about these before you begin.
- Reduced Pesticides
Since most of us don’t get to see what happens to the vegetables and fruit we buy before they arrive at the grocery store, we’re oblivious to the difference.
Store-bought vegetables and fruits tend to have been exposed to significant amounts of pesticides, which have been linked to a variety of health hazards. When using the Click And Grow, you know exactly what has been used to grow your food.
- Improved Taste
The nature of food systems in most countries is that the produce found at grocery stores has been grown thousands of miles away.
The amount of time between the harvest and the arrival at your dinner table heavily affects the quality of the food. You can’t even begin to compare the difference in taste between a fresh tomato and one that you bought from a store.
- Self Satisfaction
Personally, the level of satisfaction that I get from eating food that I’ve grown with my own bare hands is incomparable to anything. Watching your plants grow, ensuring they remain healthy and harvesting them at the optimum time feels great.
These are just some of the several reasons why growing your own food with the Click And Grow Smart Garden is such a good idea.
Conclusion
I hope you’ve found this Click And Grow review and comparison useful. After using both the Click And Grow 3 and Click And Grow 9 for a while, I think they are great products and a lot of fun to use. They’ve provided lots of enjoyment, and a little nourishing home grown food.
They look great, provide good value and are easy and enjoyable to use. The main drawback is the cost of the seed pod refills, but you can very easily reuse the seed pods and use your own seeds if you wish.
